WHAT BETTORS NEED TO KNOW: KANSAS STATE AT LOUISVILLE
What Bettors Need to Know: Kansas State at Louisville
On the Road Again
Kansas State third-year coach Ron Price is 10-4 at home,
2-8 on the road.
However, Price’s Wildcats did upset then-#7 ranked Texas in Austin as a 14.5 point dog last season.
Young Guns
With only nine returning starters, Louisville is one of the more inexperienced teams in the country.
QB Hunter Cantwell becomes the starter after performing well in a backup role for Brian Brohm over the last two seasons. Despite being a first-year starter, Cantwell is strong-armed with good size and is considered a legit NFL prospect.
With new starters at every other skill position, though, the Cardinal offense struggled mightily in the season-opening 27-2 loss to Kentucky.
JUCO Infusion
Although Bill Snyder has been gone for three years, current K State coach Price has continued Snyder’s tradition of recruiting heavily from the JUCO ranks. This year the team welcomes sixteen JUCO transfers.
Another Snyder tradition that Price has kept intact is the practice of scheduling non-conference cupcakes to start the season.
Price has used the season-opening blowouts of North Texas (45-6) and Montana State (69-10) to evaluate the new talent he has on the roster.
Getting Defensive in Louisville
While the Cardinal offense looked awful against Kentucky, the defense actually held up quite well against SEC competition.
Although Kentucky put 27 points on the board, they scored twice on fumble returns and set up a third score with an interception.
Injury Report
Louisville saw their only two returning starters on the offensive line miss the second half of their week two 51-10 win over Tennessee Tech.
The status of first team Big East center Eric Wood, an All-American candidate, as well as LT George Bussey, remains unknown at this time.
It would be a significant blow to the team’s offense if one or both misses the Kansas State game.
Line Moves
Covers.com reports that the line opened at 4, was bet down to 3.5 quickly, and then settled back at 4.
The over/under opened at 57.5 and has been bet down to 56.
